I've been covering the business of news, information and entertainment in one form or another for more than 10 years. In February 2014, I moved to San Francisco to cover the tech beat. My primary focus is social media and digital media, but I'm interested in other aspects, including but not limited to the sharing economy, lifehacking, fitness & sports tech and the evolving culture of the Bay Area. In past incarnations I've worked at AOL, Conde Nast Portfolio, Radar and WWD. Circle me on Google+, follow me on Twitter or send me tips or ideas at jbercovici@forbes.com.

As that old “Sesame Street” song goes, One of things is not like the others. One of these things just isn’t the same.

As you’ve probably heard by now, what The Onion is apologizing for is a tweet sent during the Academy Awards about the nine-year-old star of “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” “Everyone else is afraid to say it, but that Quvenzhané Wallis is kind of a [strongly misogynistic word generally reserved for grown women, at least in American usage], right?” read the message from The Onion’s official Twitter account. After a hailstorm of complaints, the tweet was deleted. (You can see it here if you care to.)

“Miss Wallis, you are young and talented and deserve better,” Onion CEO Steve Hannah wrote, vowing to “take immediate steps to discipline those responsible.”

But telling comedy writers that they can now be “disciplined” for telling jokes that fall well within The Onion’s established parameters, just because a lot of humorless people happened to be paying attention at the moment a particular joke hit — that’s a new low.

Much has been written about how Twitter and other social media platforms lull or tempt users into shooting their mouths off in ways they quickly regret. It turns out it also has the power to induce some people into blurting out apologies they should have swallowed.

———

Note: Since several readers seemed to think that where The Onion crossed the line was in targeting a real, specific child with a rude joke, I added a paragraph citing several instances in which it has done so before.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

I don’t, Jeff. The examples you site are different in that they’re aimed at children as a group and not at a specific child. I think they’re right to not target a specific kid under 16.

That said, should they have apologized?

I don’t think so. They should have either stuck by it or just taken it down without apologizing. They can rearrange their twitter protocol in house, as well. They’re the Onion, they’re supposed to be offensive.

Sweet Lou, several people have made this point. My examples were incomplete. The Onion has often made jokes about specific children, from Suri Cruise to Jonbenet Ramsay. Most recently (and pungently), there was a column “by” Alana “Honey Boo Boo Child” Thompson whose punchline was that she expects to grow up to be a drug-addicted prostitute. Alana Thompson is seven years old. The internet was fine with that.

The examples you cited in the article were about groups of children, not a specific individual.

To respond to your comments above, the humor underlying the “column” “by” Honey Boo Boo’s mother works and is funny because it purports to be Alana Thompson’s feelings, which is a logical satirical extension of the questionable judgment this particular mother shows in subjecting her daughter to being on that reality show in the first place.

In the tweet, the message was attributed to “The Onion” (i.e., not a fictitious author or column writer), was not part of a larger satire piece, and could certainly be considered as official Onion corporate policy. This, and the fact that it was directed at a specific 9-year old human being (versus at a group of the “stupid” ones), is what makes it unacceptable.

Trying to dissect humor in this way reminds me of that old National Lampoon series in which a tone-deaf professor (Kenilworth) wrote lengthy essays on why a particular joke was or wasn’t funny. In this case, you either see it or you don’t. Onion management (and others) clearly see it. It looks like you don’t.

I agree with everything in your last paragraph except its implications. If I’m taking sides between the Onion’s writers and its management about what’s funny, I think I’m gonna go with the writers, even if this particular joke was a miss.

Being verbally abusive, cruel and obscene are in no way or fashion the same as being satirical, amusing nor entertaining. When you find it entertaining to abuse the innocence of a defenseless nine year old child, then you need to be arrested, procecuted and incarcerated. There is nothing amusing about exploiting a nine year old minor little girl. It is very disturbing and offensive that you are able to find justification in such attrocities. There are laws in place to protect our young children against individuals such as yourself. I hope you find professional help before the authorities find you.

I find it professionally irresposible and highly immature. This type of inappropriate behavior is NOT entertainment. We need to examine our morals and sense of values to understand to indecency of bad behavior.

You are flat wrong. The “c” word is below even the tasteless level of the Onion. And leveled at an innocent 9 year old only makes it especially offensive. Its use cannot be rationalized by saying that the Onion is often bad taste; this is more than bad taste: it ain’t funny, it is simply vulgar.